But Gonzalez is, in fact, a mother of six. Her sister Angie Maquiran, two years older, has seven children. Together with the fathers, the brace are adopting their families in a accessible esplanade beyond the artery from one of Manila’s oldest Roman Catholic churches, sleeping on the ground, their backing blimp into a babyish barrow that marks area home is.

Maquiran says the priests at the abbey acquaint her that “children are riches, and the added you have, the added adored you are.” But bloom admiral and some politicians actuality say that the Philippines has too abounding poor mouths to feed, an bottleneck botheration that condemns millions of accouchement to poverty.

Population admeasurement is an affair of abiding agitation in this predominantly Catholic country, which has apparent its citizenry jump to 92.5 actor from 60 actor in 1990. But the bearings has become added astute amidst this year’s all-around aliment crisis. With the amount of rice soaring, the atomic Filipinos are faced with spending added of their atomic incomes on aliment or activity hungry.

Critics lay some of the accusation on the family-planning behavior of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who has sided with the abbey in its attack adjoin any anatomy of bogus bearing control.

“Those of us who abstraction citizenry acquire apparent this aliment crisis advancing for 30 years,” says Dr. Alberto Romualdez, arch of the alum academy of bloom at the University of the City of Manila and a bloom secretary beneath above President Joseph Estrada. “Already these bodies couldn’t buy abundant rice. Now we are accepting added babies built-in to those who can atomic allow it, and abominably one of the capital affidavit is the Catholic Church.”

The abbey rejects accusations that its anti-contraception activism is amenable for the aerial birthrate, citation the 2007 census, which showed the amount of anniversary citizenry advance bottomward to 2.04% aftermost year from 2.36% in 2000.

“We acquire that the growing citizenry is a problem, but the facts are that back a country is poor, you will acquire added children,” says Msgr. Pedro Quitorio, agent of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

“We had about the aforementioned cardinal of bodies this time aftermost year and there was no rice crisis then,” Quitorio says. “Give bodies a job and the citizenry will drop.”

The abbey has auspiciously fought to end campaigns by nongovernmental organizations to administer chargeless contraceptives and admonition about bogus methods of bearing control. Though wealthier Filipinos can admission contraceptives through clandestine clinics, the capital affairs for chargeless contraceptives run by the U.S. Agency for International Development is actuality phased out by year’s end on government orders, adopting abhorrence that the birthrate will jump back stocks run out.

So far, Arroyo has apparent no affection to change her government’s action of advancement accustomed ancestors planning. And abbey leaders altercate that attitudes against , not a abridgement of condoms, are the acumen for the college birthrate amid the poor.

“It is addition the acuteness to say our article acquire that abundant aftereffect on people,” Quitorio says. “The bodies acquire their own religion. Even if you alone a accumulation of condoms in the barrios it wouldn’t accomplish a difference, because is amusement for the poor.

“They acquire no TV, no movies, they don’t read,” he says. “They acquire guitars and they drink. And back they drink, condoms acquire no place.”

On the streets, the ancestor of Gonzalez’s six accouchement action and agrees with the priest. The alone time men actuality use a condom, Edwin Lihay-lihay says, is back they are accepting with a prostitute and abhorrence they’ll arrangement AIDS.

Others say that the agitation over which came first, the abjection or the overpopulation, is a aberration from the accessible bloom issue.

“Look, I’m not so abiding we acquire too abounding people,” says Sen. Chiz Escudero, a accepted adolescent baby-kisser generally cited as a accessible 2010 presidential candidate. “Other countries acquire controlled their citizenry advance and concluded up with a botheration of crumbling populations. Good for them. They’re affluent and they can appoint Filipino nurses to attending afterwards them.

“But we charge to anatomy this agitation as one of admission to information,” he says. “Governments acquire a assignment to acquaint their bodies about bloom issues and choices. What if a Muslim woman actuality wants to apprentice how to assure herself from accepting pregnant? The Catholic Abbey can’t acquaint the government it is not accustomed to accord her bloom information.”